Competition journal 13 weeks out - valuable things I learned

as you may know by now, I'm preparing for my first bodybuilding contest in April as a bikini athlete.

This is my third entry, make sure to read the first and second as well.

Last week I hit a plateau and I was starving. I was hungry literally all day. It was terrible. I felt totally weak and tired the whole day. Every second of the day I was waiting for my next meal to come, just to be hungry again right after I ate it. To be honest, I thought about quitting. Not just once, but nearly every hour. I asked myself "why am I doing this" and if it makes sense when I have to feel like sh** all the time. You get the idea: There were more 'downs' than 'ups' last week.

If I can tell you one thing I've learned so far: Never ever give up! Change always comes with struggles. You can not develop strength without resistance, without a challenge. Courage, strength and compassion are made from your pain, will and hustle. Handle it!

So far, this weeks is amazing. I hit the gym and get my workouts done with a good feeling. I'm focused enough to get a lot of work done.

This is the best I have felt in days.

Diet consists of

180g protein

150g carbs

37g fat

As I said I had to increase my calories to 1800. My diet is pretty much a classic "oldschool bodybuilding diet" now. You guys know I'm a vegetarian, therefore no chicken for me. But I'm rocking egg whites, cottage cheese, basmati rice, oats, whey, lots of greens, sweet potatoes, broccoli and tuna. Basically, I have become a Pescatarian and I love it. I function better on this assortment of protein sources and it makes my digestion going well and efficient.

I also will have a weekly "cheat meal". This is crucial as it kick starts my metabolism. I have one meal on Thursday as my fifth meal of the day, consisting of whatever I want (in the range of 800 extra calories and not too much fat).

Let's see how it works!

Training split

Training split remains the same, but I added 3 cardio sessions per week. Depending on how the weightlifting went that day, I'm doing steady state or HIIT.

Monday: Active recovery/cardio

Tuesday: Back (high volume) + 30min cardio

Wednesday: Legs (high volume)

Thursday: Arms/Shoulders (high volume) + 30min cardio

Friday: Back (high weight)

Saturday: Legs (high weight) + 30min cardio

Sunday: Arms/Chest (high weight)

Supplementation

Yes, we also changed some things in my supplementation. So here is the new summary:

Vitamin C (twice a day)

Vitamin D3 (5000 IUs per day)

Creatine

Whey protein powder

Magnesium (1g per day)

Fish oil

Support me by using the Hashtag #SupportSarah2017 on Instagram and Twitter. Thanks!